There's a reason this season of MAFS is so hard to watch. - mamamia.com.au

TV Reality TV Entertainment by Chelsea Hui March 10, 2026 Nobody wants to be the person piling on. I know the Married at First Sight pressure cooker is designed to make people snap, and I usually try to give the participants the benefit of the doubt. But this season, something has shifted — and it's getting harder and harder to ignore. In previous years, the villains were easy to spot. They were the ones throwing wine, screaming across dinner tables or blatantly cheating. It was loud, it was obvious, and it was — in a third-person, reality TV sort of way — honest.  This year, however, the toxicity has a brand new, highly filtered aesthetic. It's wrapped in the pastel-coloured banner of "sisterhood," and it's infuriating to watch, to say the least.  Watch: Bec's speech at Couple's Retreat on MAFS 2026. Article continues after video. Video via Instagram/@mafs ADVERTISEMENT We are witnessing a masterclass in how to use the "girl's girl" label to justify textbook mean-girl behaviour. It's no longer about actually supporting women; it's about using the idea of loyalty as a shield to deflect from your own nastiness.  The sad reality is that, this season, the "girl's girl" label has been tainted with a specific kind of vitriol. The phrase has been hollowed out and refilled with a brand of selective empathy that only applies to those within the inner sanctum of the clique. Take the current situation with Bec, Rachel, and the Gia and Juliette axis. At the Couple's Retreat, things got heated when Bec made a crude joke regarding Rachel and Steve's intimacy (the infamous 'finger-bang' comment), which provided the perfect vacuum for Gia and Juliette to get involved. And from there, things just went from bad to worse, ultimately resulting in Juliette calling Bec a "dumb c***" and a "freak". Image: Nine ADVERTISEMENT Now, Bec undeniably messed up. She made a bad joke that lacked empathy and rightly upset Rachel. She can be abrasive and her dinner party tirade earlier in the season certainly didn't win her many fans.  However, the reaction from the group hasn't been about helping Rachel heal or finding a resolution. Instead, it has felt like blood in the water. It's a classic case of using a legitimate grievance as a hall pass to be vicious without consequence. Gia has become the primary architect of this brand of sisterhood. She speaks almost exclusively in platitudes about having the girls' backs, yet she seems to pick and choose who qualifies as a "girl" based entirely on who she currently enjoys disliking.  While she constantly claims she doesn't want drama, she is consistently the one getting involved. We saw it with her tirade alongside Brook in earlier episodes — when they cornered Stella and Alissa in a tag-team takedown — and we are seeing it again now, only this time she has a new partner in crime. Image: Nine ADVERTISEMENT What is most concerning is the way Gia and Juliette have teamed up to fan the flames between Rachel and Bec. Watching Bec be systematically excluded from the group wasn't empowering for Rachel — it was uncomfortable. It felt less like a support system and more like a high school cafeteria where the popular table decided someone was no longer welcome. It's a specific type of psychological warfare that relies on social isolation, all while maintaining the moral high ground. We need to stop confusing loyalty with clique behaviour. True sisterhood doesn't require a sacrificial lamb to keep the group bonded and it certainly shouldn't involve calculated attacks disguised as moral superiority. Image: Nine When standing up for your friends involves fabrication and the systematic bullying of another woman, it's not feminism — it's just cruelty. ADVERTISEMENT As the season progresses, we have to ask ourselves: does the term "girl's girl" hold any weight if it is only applicable when it's socially convenient to tear someone else down? It's time we started calling this behaviour what it actually is. The facade of women supporting women is officially slipping, and what's underneath is much uglier.  Feature Image: Nine. Calling all travellers! Let us know about your favourite overseas holiday destination! Complete our 3 minute survey for a chance to win a $1,000 gift voucher in our quarterly draw! Take survey → Chelsea Hui Entertainment Producer Follow Comments 1 A Angrycherub 12 days ago Gia is such a "girl's girl", she: uses gendered insults, claims that other girls don't like her because of how she presents and then uses primarily insults based on other girls' looks, Reply Like Log in to comment